


The Storm after the Calm

by Katsu_oh_hot_damn



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Post-Episode: s02e08 The Blade of Marmora, Probably Some Light Angst, SHEITH - Freeform, help this poor old lady out, in which we get some closure, keith will fight you, mostly keith beating the crap out of himself, yall i havent written a fanfiction in over a decade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-06-19 03:14:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15501087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsu_oh_hot_damn/pseuds/Katsu_oh_hot_damn
Summary: They never really talked about what happened after Keith found out he was half-Galra, while piloting the Red Lion after hours of fighting for something he wasn't sure if he even cared about anymore. Unfortunately, Shiro knows Keith too well when Pidge asks him to come to the observation deck above the training bay that evening. Fortunately, Shiro maybe knows how to save Keith from himself this time.





	1. The Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Wow ok hi. So. Y'all see that one tag? Seriously it's been that long since I've done this. Be nice, please. 
> 
> This is something that's been sitting in my head since my.. millionth binge watch of the series in the past few months and I needed to get it out. 
> 
> I only plan for two chapters, but who knows this may go further. Bear with me and enjoy!

Keith was confused. Keith was angry. Keith was hurt. 

Shiro knew this but remained silent, his hand on the top of the pilot’s seat in the red lion, their third passenger also sitting quietly in the cargo bay below. He held back the sigh as he looked over and saw just how tightly the younger paladin was gripping the controls, he would never admit to seeing the shake in those hands. 

It had been a whirlwind of activity in the past few hours since the knife had come alive in Keith’s hand, into a full-fledged blade that somehow looked it was meant to belong to Keith alone. Since the words surrounding its ability to transform were uttered from the lips of their supposed enemy. They hadn’t stopped yet, quickly getting Keith back into his paladin armor and out to the red lion to calm her nerves about her paladin. 

While Shiro wasn’t directly connected to Red like Keith was, being the leader of Voltron had given him small insights to the welfare of his team when the lions were distressed. As he looked over Keith’s head, trying to ignore the slight shaking that had taken over his full form, he could feel Red’s presence in the back of his head and he wasn’t sure where Keith’s distress started and where Red’s ended. 

When they had hailed the Castle of Lions to let them know they were just a varga away, there was no indication from either paladin of what was discovered during the trials or who they had with them.

Keith let out a long sigh as the coms turned off and released his hands from Red’s controls for a brief moment, letting an ounce of tension leave his body. “Save it… please.”

Shiro had to fight to hear the last plea, it was never in Keith’s character to beg like that. He steeled his face and continued to stare straight ahead. Years of teaching and tutoring at the Garrison had never prepared him for how to behave yourself when the most important person in your life suddenly found out they were half alien – the same alien race responsible for your arm and scar and PTSD and the reason you were in space in a magical cat robot that-

“Shiro?” 

He froze, not realizing that the shaking was coming from him this time. “K-Keith… I’m sorry. It’s...” He paused as he looked up at the screens again, seeing the Castle of Lions come into view, “I’m sorry...” he whispered. He didn’t have to look down at the younger paladin to know the look on his face. Keith never took to pity, but also heavily shouldered guilt. It had been a long while since he had seen the look he was imagining right now – the last time being when he awoke in a desert shack that he didn’t think existed anymore. 

The rest of the ride was pure silence, even Red going quiet in the last few ticks before landing in her bay, wasting no time in helping her paladin out. 

____________________

It was hours later, after everyone had called it a night, that Shiro found himself being roused from a light sleep. The talks had gone… better than expected, no blood was shed at the least. The tension in the room was another story though. Overall, he was too worried about Keith to really get any rest. The red paladin had left the talks about halfway through, mumbling some half-baked excuse about the already healing gash on his shoulder – how fast did Galra heal anyway?

“-iro? Shiro it’s Pidge... we have a situation...” he heard the small voice over his in-room coms and was immediately up. There is only one other person who would be awake so late in what they assumed was evening, and for her to be needing him over the coms, it couldn’t have been good. 

He groaned as he rolled over and responded, “Pidge? I’m here, what’s going on? It’s pretty late for you to be up...” he never knew what was in those Holt genes that gave the children the ability to basically never sleep and be fully functional at least 62% of the time. That didn’t stop him from worrying over the younger Holt sibling, especially when the location of his crewmates was up in the air. 

“It’s been a day, ok?” She groaned into the mic with a whisper, why was she whispering anyway? “Can you come to the observation deck of the training bay? There’s something you need to see...”

Well, that was one way to start a conversation. 

Shiro was out the door and quietly padding down the hallways as quickly as he could. There were a dozen scenarios running through his head as to what Pidge could need him for, and unfortunately, the quiet talking and meeting place put a thought to the forefront of his mind that he didn’t want to think was the reality. 

The doors hissing closed behind him was the loudest thing in the room as he walked towards the large floor to ceiling window in the observation deck. The only thing louder was the muffled clanging and banging from the training bay below them. Shiro lost count at this point at how many times he had sighed and groaned today as his worst thought was being played out in front of him. The sounds became louder as Pidge turned on the audio from the training bay in the observation deck.

“S-tart training... level twenty...” Keith’s strained voice filled the suddenly small training deck as Shiro watched the room recognize his command. He was barely standing at this point, working purely on defense as he continued to try to fight the sentry before him, stumbling more than a few times.

“How long?” Shiro kept his hands at his sides, wanting to just run them through his hair in frustration, but he may pull it out at this point.

“He’s been in here since he left the meeting with Kolivan…” Great. 

Shiro knew Keith – and that was the problem right now. He knew that Keith wouldn’t stop. Considering level one was supposed to be for an Altean child, he couldn’t imagine what level twenty was meant for, if it was even a level that had ever been used in the Castle before. “How are we going to get him out of there… you know as well as I do that he won’t stop until he drops...” 

He paused as he watched Keith stand, nearly doubled over, before the sentry. He was still holding onto his wounded shoulder – the same spot where his shirt was turning darker and color and it probably wasn’t due to sweat. His mind drifted back to training days at the Garrison – Keith would always go to the mats when he should have been talking about what was happening, or writing his feelings out, or... anything that wasn’t physical like this. He had seen Keith like this just once, it happened to be shortly after it was publicized that he would be going to Kerberos within the year. It was a night that he had thought was one of his worst prior to being taken captive on a Galra prison ship for a year. He still remembered the way that Keith fought against him as he was dragged out of the gym at 4 am, kicking and screaming with what little energy he had left. Which, was a lot considering the time and the hours he had been fighting – all of Keith’s pent-up energy suddenly made sense, he was only half human after all. He had a bruise on his side for a solid week after Keith had kicked him in trying to break free – it was a memory that came to him occasionally when he felt like there was nothing left. 

“How easily can you shut the program down Pidge? We need to get him out of there...” He looked back to see her furiously typing on the laptop that he swore wasn’t there ten minutes ago. “But he can’t know – I need to be down there when you cut the program, this won’t work otherwise.” Shiro was running his own math in his head, knowing that they had maybe another twenty minutes before everyone in the castle ship was awake and would notice that three of the paladins were missing, and everyone knew if Keith couldn’t be found, this would be where he was. 

“I need just a few more minutes…” she was typing faster than any species in the universe should be able to, he never knew how she did it. 

“I’m trusting you to keep the rest out if you can” Shiro walked towards the elevator that would take him down to the lower floor, listening in for Pidge to let him know ten ticks before the program would be shut down. Last time he made the mistake of getting Keith in the middle of it – but this time he knew. He knew that Keith would drop the instant that the program turned off and the sentry deactivated. That thought is what concerned him the most, after how today had been, he wasn’t that sure just how this would go. “Pidge, have Coran start preparing the infirmary – not a cryopod. I’ll take care of him myself” He whispered into his personal com as the elevator doors whispered open and the countdown to program termination started faintly in his ear.


	2. Lightning & Thunder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Storms are made up of a few things, rain is one of them. But the most unpredictable are the lightning and thunder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK WOW THANK YOU <3 
> 
> I never expected anyone to read this, let alone all of you who did, and left kudos, and comments. 
> 
> I love you all.
> 
> I wasn't exactly expecting to get into Keith's head, but this kinda happened.

Keith saw red.

Or was it purple?

Wasn’t ‘seeing red’ a human saying? 

Could he still use that saying?

Was there a… half version he could use? What half would he use?

Maybe there was a Galra equivalent – he could ask Kolivan once he got kicked out of team Voltron.

Unless the Blade of Marmora also didn’t want a half human on their team.

Were there deserts in space to get lost in?

 

_“The only way this is possible… is if Galra blood runs through your veins...”_

 

Kolivan’s voice was still ringing in his ears as he dodged another blow from the sentry before him.

He never really expected that he was normal, nothing in life ever gave him any chance to hope he was. He never knew his mother, and his father never really said anything about him. Even then – he was young when his father when the only clue to his entire life was gone, snuffed out in a house fire to save another family.

For the longest time, Keith wondered why his father saved someone else’s family, but not his own. The thoughts still lingered from time to time, but there was only so much time to be angry when you were fighting aliens in space.

Aliens who were his relatives.

Did he kill his uncle in any of those fights? Grandpa?

Brother?

 

…Mother?

 

Everything spun for a second as he dodged another sharp blow.

 He was always small, not the shortest in his classes but he definitely looked younger than his classmates. It was great really, being the shortest, with a hot temper. Self-defense was survival. The foster homes never exactly understood that. Neither did the countless therapists and behavioral specialists. It became a game of bouncing between different homes until he could age out of the system. Or be launched into space. Whatever came first really. Whatever would get him out of their hair faster.

Keith almost laughed for a second as he realized that his experience so far was never really a human one. It made sense now, there probably wasn’t much humanity actually in him. He wondered idly as the sentry reset to the next training level (when did he command that anyway? He couldn’t remember) if the reason he grew... or didn’t... had to do with something messing up between his human and alien DNA. From what he had seen of the Galra species so far, there seemed to be some interbreeding, maybe Antok would be of some help? Not every Galra had a tail after all.

 

_“I’ve made my choice..”_

_“Then you’ve chosen to be alone.”_

Shiro explained to him later the technology in the suit, how the mental aspect was the main part of the trials. To test the true intentions of someone – understanding where their priorities were.

That didn’t stop it from hurting though.

Shiro, his best friend, his mentor, his hero, his.. what were they now? Would he dare use that word ever again? The word that had been muttered between rushed kisses and hand jobs behind closed doors.

Shiro, who was a Galra prisoner for a year. Shiro, who had an arm that was made out of Galra tech. Shiro, the leader who just wanted to explore all the universe had to offer while he still could. Shiro, who did nothing to deserve any of this. Shiro, who led the team despite everything. Shiro, who… was no longer his.

There was no way that Shiro would remain by his side any longer. Sure there was still a human... percentage to him. But the fact remained that the rest of him was the same species that landed them all in this mess.

He really needed to look at the star charts if they gave him a moment before kicking him out. There had to be a desert planet somewhere.

Pidge said she was on a trash nebula once, maybe that’s where he belonged?

He hoped that his shack back on Earth succumbed to the flames that were bound to take him as well. Entering a planet's atmosphere with no protection could do that to a person. Could he even use that word anymore? What did fire do to Galra?

The time between the blade awakening in his grasp, and fighting the training sentry flew by in a very weird way. Awkward and tense silences in the Red Lion. Having to deal with what Shiro thought of the situation was bad enough, but Keith swore he could also feel Red’s resentment for him. Nothing matched the look Allura gave him when Kolivan explained the reasoning behind his appearance and Keith’s newfound heritage. 

That could have been fire on its own.

When they tried to all sit down and talk like civilized beings, it did not go well. Allura was of course obviously miffed about the whole thing, and Kolivan didn’t exactly pad anything he had to say as he explained as much as he was able to about the Blade of Marmora, their operations, and what needed to be done to defeat Zarkon.

 

Zarkon.

 

_“You fight like a Galra soldier.”_

 

The emperor… was it his emperor now? Either way, his words rung in his head, distracting him at the moment he needed to dodge another jab and he was pretty sure he felt a rib crack.

As it was, he was still hurting from the trials, having never really stopped to take care of himself.

Had it not been for Shiro always being the voice of reason, they would have gotten nowhere fast in their talks. The leader of Voltron did a great job in keeping everyone slightly neutral as they discussed the options that lay before them.

Keith had ducked out of the meetings in the third hour, his ears kept ringing and the lights were a bit too bright. He had been fighting for hours and sitting wasn’t something he had the energy for.

Going to his room would have been too obvious – everyone would know to look for him there. It was hard to have any sense of privacy when the castle was able to track each of its paladins in the castle at any time. Hopefully, no one would notice his absence, nor his new location.

Who was he kidding, they were probably choosing the best way to launch him into a black hole. Get rid of at least half a Galra, that had to help the Voltron fight somehow… right?

 

That was hours ago.

 

He assumed that it was probably close to 5 am when he returned to himself, purely defending himself against the sentry now.

Every single bone in his body was screaming. Every nerve ending on fire. A human shouldn’t have been able to withstand this.

 

But he wasn’t human.

 

The red paladin- no, former red paladin, took a step back. He was panting as his shoulder ached in protest, the slightly closed wound still bleeding. “S-tart training... level twenty...”

Keith closed his eyes for a moment as he willed his body to put up with just a bit more. Maybe if he wore himself out enough he would be unconscious when they chucked him off the castle and into space where he would maybe not survive. Maybe if he played his cards right, this fight would be the last thing he ever did.

Fighting was the only thing he could ever do right anyway. He couldn’t even act like a human correctly. Not that there were exactly societal standards on how one acted when they were one of five people who could pilot sentient alien cats who formed a super robot and somehow could save the universe. But he was sure he still wasn’t doing it right. Red was slow to accept him, it made sense now, she never wanted Galra blood in her cockpit.

He let out a deep breath as he opened his eyes just in time to see the sentry charging at him once again.

There was a consideration – to stop, and just let this happen. Just let whatever the universe planned for him happen. It’s not like he had any plans or anything. No real dreams to explore the universe, see the wonders around him. To settle down with the man of his dreams once this was all over, back on a small shack in the desert. Maybe they could move to a farm? Shiro would definitely have a green thumb, and probably have a pet chick that just somehow would live in their ranch house with him.

He would never know though, he decided.

Fighting wasn’t the only thing he could do right.

Making it better for everyone else was also something he excelled at. No matter the cost.

The sentry was almost on top of him as his decision was made.

Amber eyes rose to meet the assumed eyes of the sentry, ready for the end.

A small flash of the life he could have had danced before him as he thought he saw Shiro out of the corner of his eye. There was no way Shiro would be here, they were still planning on how to get rid of him after all.

The sentry stopped.

The ringing in his ears returned. No, it wasn’t a ringing, it was as if his heart was pounding in his ears, blood possibly gushing out at this point. 

The sentry deactivated and shut down as a tingling started in his toes, slowly but quickly working its way up his body.

The room started to become fuzzy. Everything felt fuzzy – why was there cotton his ears?

Colors started to lose their vividness.

Dammit, he had at least hoped his last moments would be colorful. Red would have been a great way to go.

But Keith was denied even that last wish as his legs finally gave out and he dropped, his consciousness going with his body to the ground.

The last thing he saw was a blur of black, with the smallest streak of white.

 

_I’m sorry, Shiro._

 

_I loved you._

 

He was gone before his body even hit the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's not dead - I promise. I'm not that mean.
> 
> Come yell with me about season 7 on Twitter (@paladin_02)


	3. Rest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! School and work and wedding planning got in the way all at once. 
> 
> The next chapter may be the last, not so sure just yet though.
> 
> Thank you all again for your kind words and kudos!

“Shutting down in three…”

He looked like he was about to collapse any second now.

“…two…”

Did the infirmary have everything they would need to treat the open wounds and broken bones? What about anything to keep his vitals up otherwise? Would they be able to keep him hydrated after all of this – he had exhausted so much of his energy in the past few hours.

“…one – go!”

Shiro waited half a second between the youngest paladin’s exclamation and when he would start moving towards Keith. His eyes tracking the movement of the red paladin as his body was starting to shut down.

He was quick on his feet as he quickly dashed across the short distance between them and caught Keith’s unconscious form just before he would have hit the ground, “Keith…” he whispered softly, “Just hang on buddy… please.” The pleading was soft as he noticed how much Keith was shaking in his arms already. 

It was seconds later that Coran entered the training bay, Shiro made a mental note to thank Pidge as he gently lifted Keith into his arms and stood, keeping a protective grasp on him. Coran just somehow always knew, as goofy as he could be sometimes, the majority of the time he just always knew what each situation needed – and this was not a time for humor.

“The infirmary is all set up Shiro, we should have everything you need. I know you don’t want to put him in a cryopod after what happened last time, but I do have one ready on standby just in case. Hunk tinkered with the mechanics of them a bit that they should be able to safely house someone with Galra DNA.”

He didn’t want to think about the last cryopod incident. They had all just agreed to never speak of it again really, but the reasoning behind it made sense now.

 

_“Coran..? What’s happening? His vitals are going down – Keith-  he’s crashing, get him out of there!!”_

_Up until that point, Keith somehow had been the only member of Team Voltron that hadn’t ended up in a cryopod for some reason or another. It took a nasty shot from a Galra sentry of all things to finally land the red paladin in one. The stress and combination of getting shot and then having to pilot Red through a lengthy and intense battle nearly had the paladin unconscious in his seat before everyone landed back in the castle. He was only able to get out of the lion with Shiro’s help, barely making it to the infirmary._

_By the time they loaded him into the cryopod, he was out cold. At first, everything was going well. There had been enough times that the other paladins had seen the process to know that it looked like it would be a quick and speedy recovery for the feisty paladin. Coran had mentioned that it shouldn’t be much longer than two vargas before Keith would be as good as new._

_The crypods truly were an amazing piece of technology, having the ability to heal on a molecular level. However, for that scientific feat to even be possible, the engineers behind the devices had to program each potential species it may come in contact with individually. Even once they were installed, there were still updated as more and more species were added into the databases for the pod's computers to use – human information was added after Voltron had once again been reformed by five students. However, Galran DNA was never added – not only did Galra have quick heal times, but the original black paladin had his own team that was there to assist in event of any injury his own DNA couldn’t heal on its own. A fail-safe had also been entered that were any species to enter the pod that no information was available, the pod would assume the intruder an enemy and dispose of them if necessary. The Altean’s were a peaceful people, but also did not want to deal with intruders._

_It had only been about twenty minutes, but Shiro still hadn’t left Keith’s side. He was intensely watching the vitals on the display when he noticed that everything was quickly getting worse. It all happened so quickly that he saw the red paladin’s heart rate almost diminish completely._

_“Coran..? What’s happening? His vitals are going down – Keith-  he’s crashing, get him out of there!!”_

_Within seconds, the pod was open and Keith was trembling in Shiro’s arms, gasping for breath, barely conscious and barely alive._

_The room was silent, no one knew what had just happened. Coran knew that the pod's self-defense mechanism had kicked in, but had no explanation as to why considering they had successfully treated humans before – there had never even been an issue with Shiro’s Galra arm._

It all made sense now, Shiro thought to himself as he gently laid Keith down on one of the beds in the infirmary, Coran hot on his tail, why the cryopod rejected Keith back then. Because he was a lot more Galra than his arm.

Shiro took a step back as he let Coran run tests to ensure that there was no internal bleeding or anything that posed an immediate threat. He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until the Altean turned back to him with a small smile, indicating that all was good on that front. Bone scans showed that Keith definitely had two cracked ribs, visually showed a good amount of bruising, and the gash on his shoulder had reopened slightly but it appeared that the bleeding had stopped.

Coran finished assembling some of the products needed as he stepped back towards the door, “Everything you should need is there, the black container has a salve that will do wonders on his shoulder, as well as the bruising. Be sure not to bandage too tightly around his waist, his lower two ribs are cracked. The IV should have enough in it to hydrate him for at least 4 hours – we are here if you need anything” with that, he left the black paladin on his own.

He couldn’t thank Coran enough for the space. Knowing that everyone was on the other side of the door waiting for an update – Shiro set to work in getting Keith bandaged up. It took maybe half a varga before Shiro sat down next to Keith, gently taking the younger paladin’s hand in his own.

He was fine. Everything was going to be fine once those ribs healed. He was extremely dehydrated and would probably be in a lot of pain for a while, but he was safe. That was what mattered to him the most as he gently brushed some of Keith’s hair away from his forehead.

How Allura and Coran managed to keep the other paladins at bay, Shiro would never know – but it was something he was eternally grateful for as he entered hour four by Keith’s side. He kept a vigilant eye on the monitors, making sure that there were no repeats of the cryopod incident. Ever since then, Keith wasn’t allowed to go anywhere near them for any type of healing, but he somehow always healed faster than everyone else anyway so it was rare that he would end up in the infirmary anyway. The monitors blinked back at him, reminding him that Keith’s vitals were perfectly in check.

Four hours was a lot of time to just sit and think about everything. Think about how you ended up sitting in the infirmary of an alien ship, holding the hand of someone who meant the world to you. Someone who found out at the same time as you that they were half alien. Not just any alien. The alien race that had captured you and your team. The alien race that took your arm and replaced it with one that was better for them. The alien race that had taken so much from you. And now the person you loved was part of that alien race.

But there were good Galra too? Kolivan and the rest of the Blade seemed to be on the good side – and Keith had one of their blades, which means that his mother was probably a member of the Blades as well.

Shiro sighed as he rubbed the top of Keith’s hand with his thumb, haven not let go of his hand yet. This is something that would take some time to discuss – and Keith was never really one for talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter @paladin_02


	4. Healing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Hi. Um. Sorry about that absence? Life kinda happened. But hey, I graduated, so I can write more now, yay!
> 
> I thought this was going to be the last chapter, but it kinda got away from me towards the end. Whoops.
> 
> There is the slightest reference to the end of season 8 in this. It's a singular sentence, you'll know it when you see it. That's all it is. Because season 8 didn't happen.

_Black._

_Everything was black - which Keith wanted to grumble at._

_Red was his color, black was Shiro’s, and he knew Shiro was gone to him. Why would the universe give him one last reminder of what he lost? Seriously, wasn’t being half-alien bad enough? Nope? Ok. Thanks, universe._

_He wasn’t even sure where he was if he were being completely honest with himself. He tried to think back on the last thing he remembered, all that came to his mind was a blur of black highlighted with a white streak, and a soft voice murmuring something._

_There were vague memories of being moved, of being placed somewhere else, of a sudden cooling of his body, of hushed tones and gentle hands._

_Of Shiro._

 

But that didn’t make sense – Shiro didn’t want him anymore, of that Keith was certain.

The bits and pieces he could put together got him nowhere but frustrated, and frustrated was something that Keith was over being. He was over being a lot of things - mainly over being half-alien - but frustration was now up there with being half-alien.

It took a few minutes before he was able to at least focus on the environment around him. It was barren, like almost everything in his life. The atmosphere was stable, though the dust reminded him of the desert. If he squinted hard enough, there was a shack visible in the distance. 

A sigh left Keith’s lips before he started to move forward. Everything seemed just slightly off on whatever planet he had crash landed on. He didn’t exactly remember being booted from the Castle of Lions, but he was sure it happened, otherwise, why would he be stranded somewhere alone?

 

Still didn’t answer why he hurt so fucking much.

 

Occasionally he would hear something out of place, a soft voice, a beeping noise, a phantom hand in his hair.

The movement of time around him just didn’t make sense, he swore it was night time when he started walking, but the sun was shining in his eyes now. There was absolutely no way he had walked for that many vargas already. He couldn’t remember learning about a planet that had days that were that short but also had an Earth-like atmosphere. But then again, he didn’t really pay attention in school, until some guy from the Garrison showed up to recruit.

 

What was his name again?

 

Keith felt like he should know what his name was. Something was pulling at his heart while he tried to think of what his name was. Like seriously, what was his name?!

 

…and when did the atmosphere grow so cold?

 

He squinted ahead of him and saw a large ship with three people standing before it, as well as some equipment surrounding them.

 

And suddenly he was piloting a ship, a large one. Everything around him was purple. There were angry voices in the background commanding a tractor beam to be fired on the three people.

 

Something in Keith’s heart seized as he saw the three start to struggle against the forces pulling them towards the ship.

 

Another jump. They were kneeling before him now. One of them had the guts to try to plead for their safety. He had stars in his eyes, and a face too soft. The noise that echoes in the hall when the butt of a sentrys gun meets the back of his head is sickening.

 

He just gives up when the scene jumps again, what’s the point in fighting this anyway?

 

He’s standing now, arms crossed, as two figures before him lean in to kiss. The glow from the bigger ones floating arm is blinding him to who they are.

 

And then everything is black again.

 

But this time he’s falling.

 

_“..-eith…Keith…”_

It’s like a mantra, as he continues to fall. He thinks he closes his eyes as he lets himself succumb to whatever the universe has in store for him at this point. The soft voice keeps fading in and out, all he ever catches is his name falling from those lips. He wishes he could tell that person to stop, but he also doesn’t feel like it, the mantra lulls him like a lullaby as he surrenders to whatever comes next and everything finally fades away.

 

Everything is still for a minute, Keith isn’t even sure if he is breathing. Suddenly it’s a rush, a rush of air, a rush of pain, a rush of everything all at once.

He’s gasping and throwing himself upright before his eyes are even open, the scream barely off his lips before there are hands ushering him back down.

“..eith… Keith!!”

 

The voice that had been so soft is suddenly so scared, so startled, so alive.

 

His surroundings come back in chunks. The pain is the first thing that registers in his mind.

After that is the fact that he’s lying on something, then feeling that he is wrapped up in a lot of something.

His eyes finally come into focus as he’s panting through the pain, the first thing he sees is a blur of black with a streak of white, a soft face, someone with the stars in their eyes.

“Shiro…” He whispers through a gasp as a cough tears itself through his body.

“Baby…”

It almost goes unheard, but Keith’s heart stops for a second when he hears it. Everything comes rushing back to him in a flash of pain as he doubles over.

“So that’s how this is going to go down…” He pants as he raises his eyes to Shiro.

“Keith… what do you mean?”

He gently shakes his head as he tries to remove Shiro’s hands from his body, “You’re going to pretend everything is ok..” a second to catch his breath, “and then when I’m least expecting..” he’s shaking now, “you’ll open the airlock and let the universe have its way with me. I didn’t think you were this cruel Takashi..”

A soft laugh leaves the sad smile painted on his face as he looks up at Shiro one last time before he fades to black again.

 

 

“CORAN!” Shiro is lifting Keith into his arms and making a bee-line for the cryopods before he can even get the Altean’s attention.

Coran had been lurking in the shadows for the past few minutes and was already getting the pod open as Shiro rounded the corner, “Pidge and Hunk have been working tirelessly this week to make sure he would be safe. He will be safe Shiro..”

The accented voice started to fade from his hearing as he focuses on the display on the pod holding the single most important person in his life. The last time he trusted this 10,600-year-old piece of technology he almost lost his entire world, he was terrified it would happen again.

 

Time passes in a very weird way when you’re just waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

 

Shiro was holding his breath as the twenty-minute mark approached, it took this long for everything to go wrong last time. As the mark came and left, followed by seventy more, his breathing started to regulate itself once again. The display of Keith’s vitals was steadily increasing as the pod was finally helping the red paladin heal for the first time since they had been launched into space on a robotic cat ship.

It’s another ten minutes before the display beeps green and the tell-tale hissing of the pressurized chamber opening is heard. Before Keith’s body can even fall forward, Shiro is stepping onto the edge of the pod to gently lift the red paladin into his arms and sit on the ground, still cradling the precious cargo.

Shiro sighs softly as he leans back against the now-closed cryopod, running a soft hand through Keith’s hair, “C’mon Keith... come back to me” he whispers as he continues to play with Keith’s hair, the familiar texture is soothing to him after everything that’s happened in the past few hours.

 

Days.

 

It’s been days.

 

Five of them, to be exact since Keith’s Galra heritage was exposed. Since Voltron suddenly gained an unexpected ally in the Blade of Marmora. Shiro was briefed in how the talking’s were going, but he refused to leave Keith’s side. Plans were starting to be formulated that would really bring an end to Zarkon’s reign, once and for all.  Since Shiro woke up in the middle of the night to Pidge begging him down to the training deck. Since he watched his entire world crumble before him as Keith pushed himself past any human or Galra limits to fight through what he was feeling. 

A soft groan brought his attention back to the present.

“Keith…?” He whispered, worried that he may shatter the moment and wake up in a reality where Keith was gone forever.

The breath he didn’t know he was holding was released as he looked down to violet eyes gazing back up to him, they were much clearer than they had been last time they met.

“Ta…Takashi…?” Keith’s voice was rough as he slowly blinked, taking in his surroundings once again.

Shiro trod lightly, unsure of how much Keith remembered of the last time he was awake, or of anything that had happened in the past week, “I’m right here Keith… you’re safe, you’re ok…”

Keith was blinking slowly, the kind of blink a cat gives only to someone it trusts, as he looked around. He continued to look around for a few moments before resting his gaze back on Shiro, “What are you going to do with me...” he whispered.

Shiro had never heard such a broken tone fall from the lips of someone he admired so much. “Keith… what are you talking about…?”

“I’m half-Galra… the half-alien race that took your arm… ruined your life… ruined the lives of almost everyone on this ship… I know I’m not wanted here anymore.”

The finality in his voice worried Shiro. He had seen Keith low before, but never this low. His heart broke as he hugged Keith to him, pressing a soft kiss to the top of his head, “Baby… they would have to get through me first if they wanted you off this ship... off this team… You’re not going anywhere.”

Shock filled Keith’s eyes as he tried to sit up a bit in Shiro’s embrace, “What do you mean? You guys should hate me… I mean, Allura does.”

Shiro shook his head softly as he relaxed his grip on Keith, “Keith… your history doesn’t change who you are. You’re a paladin of Voltron, you’re technically a member of the Blade of Marmora even. You’re someone who is helping to save the universe. We know first-hand that there are good Galra out there too. You’re one of them baby” He smiled softly as he put his hand to Keith’s cheek, stroking softly with his thumb, “You’re one of those amazing people who is going to bring this war to an end. We don’t hate you. You’re still the same Keith you were last week.” 

“I.. wait, last week? How long was I out Shiro?”

 

There was a pause that went on far too long.

 

“It’s been 5 days Keith… Pidge… she was the one that found you in the training bay, you had been fighting for hours. I had her force the program to terminate and you dropped the second you didn’t have to fight. You’ve been unconscious since then. Everyone’s been so worried about you… I’ve been so worried about you.”

 

The red paladin was silent.

 

 “Keith... please talk to me. What’s going through your head?”

A sigh left his lips before he finally looked up to Shiro, “I…I don’t know Shiro. Honestly, I don’t. So much was going through my head at the time, and so much still is. It’s a lot to process all at once.” He leaned back and rested his head on Shiro’s shoulder, the human one. “I never really felt like I knew who I was, and I do now, in a way at least.” He closed his eyes.

“Rest Keith, we have all the time in the world... I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Keith nodded sluggishly as he started to feel his body be dragged down once again. The last thing he felt was a soft hand in his hair and an even softer whisper of ‘I love you’ before he was pulled under.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come scream with me on twitter @paladin_02

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come yell at me on Twitter (@paladin_02) about sheith and how much Keith needs a nap in season 7.


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